Round or pear-shaped fruits, usually 5-10 cm in diameter. The fruit has a thin peel, usually pale green or yellow when mature. Some varieties have pink or reddish fruits. The flesh is rather hard (like an apple) and usually white or pinkish in color. The fruit contains many small hard seeds and has a strong, very characteristic sweet taste. Some varieties are seedless. Fruits have a high vitamin C content
The guava is a shrub or small tree, usually up to 4 m in height. The bark peels off in flakes, revealing the characteristically smooth, pale-colored trunk and branches. The large leaves of guava have prominent veins and are borne opposite each other in pairs. Small white flowers, with numerous stamens develop into rounded or pear-shaped, yellow, many-seeded fruits. Guavas have pink or yellow fruit flesh, are delicious to eat and have a high vitamin C content.
Leaves of guava are commonly used in traditional medicine, mainly to treat gastrointestinal disorders (such as diarrhea) and diabetes, but also fever (including malaria), cough, ulcers, boils and wounds.
Guava leaf is rich in tannins (9-12%) and other phenolic compounds, of which amritoside (a glycoside -gentiobioside -of ellagic acid) is of particular interest. Another biologically interesting compound is guiajaverin, a glycoside (arabinopyroside) of quercetin. The leaves also contain 0.3% essential oils (with eugenol) and triterpenoids that may contribute to the overall medicinal activity.